Bobby Storey, who was arrested in west Belfast. (Photograph: Niall Carson/PA)

A well-known republican has been arrested by detectives investigating the murder of Belfast woman Jean McConville.

Bobby Storey, 58, was detained in the west of the city as part of the overall investigation into the crime.

As well as the murder of the widow in 1972, police are also investigating linked alleged terror offences in the decades since, including IRA pronouncements made about the killing. It is understood Storey has been detained under the provisions of the Terrorism Act.

The abduction, killing and secret burial of McConville, a mother of 10, is one of the most notorious crimes of the Northern Ireland Troubles. The police case lay dormant for decades until a flurry of activity this year, with a series of arrests made, the most high-profile being the four-day detention of Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams.

Adams, who denies involvement, was released pending a report being sent to prosecutors for assessment.

McConville was dragged from her children in the Divis flats in west Belfast by a gang of up to 12 men and women after being wrongly accused of informing to the security forces. She was interrogated, shot in the back of the head and then buried, becoming one of the “disappeared” victims of the Troubles.

Her body was found in 2003 on a beach in County Louth, 50 miles from her home.

Storey has been taken to the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s serious crime suite in Antrim town for questioning.

"Everyone, Republican or otherwise has their own particular part to play. No part is too great or too small, no one is too old or too young to do something."

~Bobby Sands 1954-1981~

'Mother Erin'

Two divine persons in one. A mother lamenting her children in bondage. A girl ravished by the Saxon, who weeps over her stringless harp. But her young champions keep watch in the mountains, awaiting the dawn of the bright sun of Freedom. They will gather around her with pikes and swords.